There have been provided semiconductor devices having a semiconductor element mounted in a bare chip state in a package having conductor portions. For example, a solid-state image pickup device is known in which, as shown in FIG. 14, a solid-state image pickup element 21 is mounted in a package 22 in a recessed form; a plurality of electrode pads formed on a major surface of the solid-state image pickup element 21 and inner terminal portions in a plurality of conductor portions 24 formed in the package 22 are respectively connected to each other by thin metal wires 25; and a cover glass 26 is bonded to an upper surface of the package 22 to close the interior of the package in an airtight manner. In this type of solid-state image pickup device, the inner terminal portions in the conductor portions are disposed in the cavity of the package and the thin metal wires from the solid-state image pickup element are connected to the inner terminal portions. It is necessary to provide a region for this connection in the cavity. Therefore it is difficult to reduce the size in the longitudinal or widthwise direction or the height of the device.
Another solid-state image pickup device (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-164524) is known which is designed to be reduced in size, as described below. As shown in FIG. 15, electrode pads 22a are disposed on upper surfaces of side wall portions of a package 22; electrode pads of a solid-state image pickup element 21 mounted in the package 22 are connected to the electrode pads 22a by thin metal wires 25; a resin layer 27 is provided on the upper surfaces of the side wall portions of the package 22 along the entire periphery of the same so as to cover connecting portions of the electrode pads 22a and the thin metal wires 25; and a cover glass 26 is bonded on the resin layer 27. This solid-state image pickup device can be reduced in size in the longitudinal and widthwise directions in comparison with conventional ones but cannot be reduced in height. Also, the amount of application of the resin for covering the connecting portions of the electrode pads and the thin metal wires on the upper surfaces of the package side wall portions cannot be made uniform. Therefore, the cover glass placed on the applied resin can move easily before the resin is set to have a deviation from the correct position in the X-, Y- or θ-direction.
An optical device in which a cover glass is attached to an upper surface of an optical element such as a solid-state image pickup element instead of being disposed in a space above the optical element is also known (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-197885). However, a connection region in a cavity is also required when this optical device is mounted in a package and wire-bonded, as in the case of the above-described conventional solid-state image pickup device.